RIP Morbius

[Gradine]

I will still always appreciate Roger Ebert's review of The Mummy ('99):
"There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even the mummy, but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased. There is a little immaturity stuck away in the crannies of even the most judicious of us, and we should treasure it."

 

[payn]

There is a weird undercurrent of anti-intellectualism when it comes to certain topics (like cinema) on the forum.

Which, given the forum's organizing purpose, seems .... interesting.

I dont think its any different than the culture at large. Unless I go specifically to a cinephile site, most film talk these days has been engulfed with populist screw the critic takes.

 

[billd91]

I will still always appreciate Roger Ebert's review of The Mummy ('99):
"There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even the mummy, but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased. There is a little immaturity stuck away in the crannies of even the most judicious of us, and we should treasure it."

I do miss Roger Ebert's perspective and voice sometimes. And this is an excellent example of one of those times.

 

[payn]

I will still always appreciate Roger Ebert's review of The Mummy ('99):
"There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even the mummy, but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased. There is a little immaturity stuck away in the crannies of even the most judicious of us, and we should treasure it."

That was about the time film started heading into what I call the amusement park ride experience. It doesn't matter if its well written or executed finely, what matters is that its a fun way to kill a few hours and keeps folks attention. I think thats just fine for the purpose of a movie, though it still has to be fun to watch.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I dont think its any different than the culture at large. Unless I go specifically to a cinephile site, most film talk these days has been engulfed with populist screw the critic takes.

Interesting in that, for the most part, the TTRPG community has been different than the culture at large ... and certainly not populist nor anti-intellectual.

We have met the enemy and he is us.

 

[Thomas Shey]

But I also put a lot of stock in certain film critics, especially when it comes to movies from filmmakers without a track record. And if there's one pretty consistent through-line on this forum when it comes to movies and TV, it's that critics are a bunch of fun-hating eggheads who are out of touch with the rest of us. Never mind when those same critics champion stuff that's totally low-brow and bonkers, because how dare they give a Marvel movie a B instead of an A++++++++++!

Honestly, I'm at least consistent: critics as a set don't really tell me a thing about whether I'll like a given movie (neither do the populace as a set). The best I've been able to determine is if both the critics and the viewers as a set think something is bad, its best to stay away; but I like plenty of movies a majority of critics hate, and at least some movies that the critics liked and the viewers as a whole were "meh" about.

 

[Gradine]

I do miss Roger Ebert's perspective and voice sometimes. And this is an excellent example of one of those times.

Man was an excellent film critic, even when I disagreed with him. Shame about his massive blind spot for interactive storytelling as art

 

[James Gasik]

Ebert was a critic who 'got' why people go to see movies, even if they were bad from a critical perspective. The man loved Star Wars, how can you go wrong?

Star Wars movie review & film summary (1977) | Roger Ebert

Every once in a while I have what I think of as an out-of-the-body experience at a movie. When the ESP people use a phrase like that, they're referring to the sensation of the mind actually leaving the body and spiriting itself off to China or Peoria or a galaxy far, far away. When I use the...

www.rogerebert.com

 

[Grendel_Khan]

That was about the time film started heading into what I call the amusement park ride experience. It doesn't matter if its well written or executed finely, what matters is that its a fun way to kill a few hours and keeps folks attention. I think thats just fine for the purpose of a movie, though it still has to be fun to watch.

Careful, you're steering right into Scorsese's blasphemous MCU-as-amusement-park-ride comment, which is probably the most accurate thing anyone's ever said about the MCU, from someone who's about as far from being a snob as any well-known director could be.

And I'm sorry for minimizing your take on non-financial factors in movies. I was just trying to tear that one bit to shreds, to be honest, since I personally don't think it belongs in the movie-quality calculus, and feeds into the exact kind of anti-intellectual takes we're now talking about.

 

[Ryujin]

There is a weird undercurrent of anti-intellectualism when it comes to certain topics (like cinema) on the forum.

Which, given the forum's organizing purpose, seems .... interesting.

Well there's anti-intellectualism, and then there's dislike for movies that treat the audience as beneath the auteur. I like amovie that makes me think, but ultimately they are a form of entertainment. I'm not5 looking for something that will require a 10,000 word essay to unpack.

As an example in college I took a couple of film courses. Despite being an introvert I seemed to be the only person who would speak up in class, without being singled out by the instructor. As a result he started turning to me for commentary immediately after films had finished running. After "La Strada" finished he turned up the lights, asked, "So what did you think of it?", then looked directly at me. My response: "I thought it was <insert word for excrement>."

We also watched all 17 episodes of "The Prisoner" for that class, so it wasn't a complete loss.